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+--- Thread: The Future that Never Was (/showthread.php?tid=211)
The Future that Never Was - Mattias Westlund - 04-12-2017
I wasn't going to post about this here, as I felt it was kind of the wrong music and the wrong crowd. Then I think the retro midi threads and the discussion about AI and the use of synths in orchestral music made me realize that this is hardly a purist/traditionalist/technophobe community anyway so why the hell not. Besides, this isn't really any less symphonic and cinematic than my normal stuff, it's only a different angle.
While I have an idea for a sequel to Waters of Redemption, my next album project is going to be something completely different. Two years ago I sat down to create a bunch of completely synth-based tracks in a retro flavor, very much inspired by Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack but also various other 1980's stuff like Escape from New York, William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, Akira, Tron, Aliens and whatnot. Basically, the soundtrack to a future that never was.
I have a tendency of being kind of fickle with my personal projects. Like, I get this new idea and I'm 100% into it for a month at most, then I tend to lose interest and the whole thing falls by the wayside. But for some reason this project has kept my interest and I've been adding music to it on and off. And, also uncharacteristically, I'm still pretty happy with most of it. In fact I think Cryosleep is one of the best pieces of music I've ever written, despite (or thanks to!) it being a very spontaneous thing that happened in just a few hours. Anyway. With 12 tracks and 38 minutes of music so far (some of them are unfinished so my guesstimate for the final product would be 48-50 minutes) I don't really have any excuse for putting this off any longer. I really need to finish and release this.
Thoughts? Thumbs up or down? Any good suggestions for an album title?
RE: The Future that Never Was - bigcat1969 - 04-12-2017
Your ability and creativity amaze and astound me.
RE: The Future that Never Was - Michael Willis - 04-12-2017
I've already spent hours listening to most of these tracks already, probably like many other people who have perused your soundcloud account. Frankly I think that "The Future that Never Was" is a fine and fitting album title; I'm somewhat baffled as to why you're looking for another one.
RE: The Future that Never Was - Viktor - 04-12-2017
Thumps up from me. I've just listened to the first two track so far, but Sprawl seems to be a pretty good opener, it has a strong melody and it sounds pretty wide, mixingwise. I'm really impressed with the stere image and how everything has it's place, it sounds not that overborded but still pretty huge. I also like your use of non-music noises, like the police siren and the people talking.
Cryosleep is a lovely piece of music, it sounds very dark and relaxing and once again i dig using originally non-musical noises into the music. The melody isn't as prominent, but I think that would actually change the mood a lot and I think it's just right that everything stays together in the background and is part of the atmosphere.
(I just shortly listened into AI Daydreams, i really like the idea of automating the pan of the appregiator and it's a pretty cool to use that slightly artifical sounding singing sample for that theme.)
While listening a bit more I had the feeling that some melodies seem to be kinda holding back a bit (in other instances i find them pretty cool and nice and on the same time not being to much in the foreground for creating an atmosphere like for example the "string"part at the end of Shinjuku Station, i feel like they take up the perfect amount of space there. Another example would be the end of "Leaving Earth", maybe I'm just a sucker for that string sound). On the other hand that might be what you are going for, but you gotta know that.
Out of interrest, were you tweaking the synths yourself or are these samples?
Despite me one aspect that i criticised I have to say, i really like the "Orchestration", everything is really big, while not being too dense and you used the reverb/delay pretty nice, there is a lot of nice spacing. The sounds are also pretty nice, while you might wanna make the snare sound in "Ghost in the machine" a little bit sharper, with less release and more percussive sounding. But once again, that might be what you're going for.
I think "The future that never was" is actually a pretty good title for an album. I was discussing with a friend, how Sprawl is really dirty, fucked up cyberpunk and Blade Runner is really dreamy, nearly romantic (as in the art movement) cyberpunk in a way. I feel like you fit more and the last category, the tracks are overall pretty dreamy, lush, cinematic and atmospheric.
Keep on what you doing and keep us updated!
RE: The Future that Never Was - Samulis - 04-13-2017
In addition to the references above, it reminds me of the music of one of my long-time friends from Newgrounds, Skye-
http://skyewint.newgrounds.com/
I definitely think you should go for this... you almost have me inspired to go for something like that myself!
RE: The Future that Never Was - Paul Battersby - 04-14-2017
I think you've named this right "The Future That Never Was"and captured the futuristic genre. This music would also fit in well with some of the sci-fi short movies I've seen on YouTube. You could probably make sound tracks for those if you wanted.